Mobile networks reaching their limits

Current telco providers are fighting to retain as much market share as they can in the rapidly expanding market. While most of this growth is driven by the consumers need for data, it seems that the biggest providers in the industry are not prepared to handle the amount that customers demand. Since the advent of IoT the market requires larger and larger amounts of data. While it may seem that 5G may be the obvious solution, it is still not obvious how effective it will due to its range limitations. Bandwidth management is going to become increasingly important till such a time when 5G can become an effective replacement to 4G. Australia now has a smart phone uptake rate of nearly 90% and therefore recent outages have been more than a little disruptive for the general public. None of the major telcos have been immune from network outtages, with the fallout resulting in apologies that may do little to limit reputational damage. Optus’ CEO took to social media after his company failed to provide the World Cup streaming they promised, tweeting:

"I apologise unreservedly to all Australians.

"We should have done better, we can do better and we will do better."@Optus CEO Allen Lew to @OptusSport customers who experienced streaming issues during the opening nights of the #WorldCup#OptusSport

One possible solution to this dearth of data throughput is dynamic data plans. As these networks work on a spectrum of frequency, when there are too many users there is too much interference. Dynamic data plans would reduce the amount of people using a network at once by charging a premium during peak times and making it cheaper to use off peak. This would encourage users to stop wasting data, and effectively maximise the possible usages of the current networks.